Nintendo Wii U eShop restricts 18+ game sales to 11 PM to 3 AM

In new weird news today we noticed that Nintendo blocks access to 18+ rated content on the Wii U eShop outside the 11 pm - 3 am time window. The restriction means that European gamers are unable to buy games like ZombiU and Assassin's Creed III outside this awkward time window.

The issue first came to light after a NeoGAF user experienced the issue and contacted Nintendo of Italy's customer support.

"Dear customer," a Nintendo representative replied, "we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries.

"We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11pm - 3am time window."

Eurogamer has just tested this and it appears to be true. We were unable to access Assassin's Creed 3 information or buy ZombiU digitally.

"You cannot view this content," a message reads. "The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted."

VG247 asked Nintendo for clarification and got to hear that the restriction of mature content is due to Germany's hard stand on mature game content. Nintendo of Europe is based in Frankfurt, so the company is bound by German law on the matter.

“Legal age restriction requirements vary across a number of European countries. Since Nintendo of Europe is based in Germany, Nintendo eShop is complying with German youth protection regulation which therefore applies to all our European markets. Under German law, content rated 18+ must be made available only at night.

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It´s a fair enough move, although if i didn´t play carmageddon at age 10 and onwards i would have been a lame kid.

Just means kids will be staying up later at night.

Reddoguk
Master Guru

Posts: 688
Joined: 2010-05-26

#4477205 Posted on: 12/12/2012 12:28 AM
German law is very strict.

I remember when the first Far Cry came out and it was banned in Germany.

Ubi had to release a version for the German market with no gore and even rag doll was banned.

They had to go to mod sites and download a gore and rag doll patch for their super censored version of a great game.

They still don't like blood and rag doll or realistic type deaths in any game release in Germany.

naike
Maha Guru

Posts: 2021
Joined: 2009-08-02

#4477228 Posted on: 12/12/2012 12:47 AM
Yeah, it's just ridiculous in Germany. I remember once my CSS somehow configured to the German version, no blood and when you "died" your guy would just get arrested or something lol. Had to enable blood effects etc from the console.

Ven0m
Maha Guru

Posts: 1569
Joined: 2005-08-12

#4477246 Posted on: 12/12/2012 12:57 AM
That makes no freaking sense. Wouldn't it be enough to just use any kind of parental lock and/or log the usage?

Or such scenario:
1. su
2. ok, enough jokes 3. create new account
4. set minimum pegi rating
5. set stuff you want to exclude, eg drug use
6. only games that meet the criteria are displayed, including installed ones, allowed installs, and online store

and well, playing Mortal Kombat and Carmageddon was fun as a kid. I would have no issues with letting kid play such games, but not Amnesia. I'd also need to monitor online gaming, as in my opinion games themselves are pretty much ok, but the player interaction is frequently abusive.

They existed in the USA, but there were no sales laws or ESRB until the mid 1990s or so.

I can remember early 1990s games like Blake Stone having a splash page warning showing violent content. Even old school PC-game boxes had little test tubes that showed the levels of violence/gore. This was before the KA, T, M AO became standard in the USA.